Coronavirus: Mater Hospital 'to become Belfast base'

The Mater Hospital is likely to become the main site for coronavirus patients in Belfast when numbers begin to surge, the BBC understands.

A number of wards have been identified and preparations are ongoing to enable them to treat seriously-ill patients.

NI has 12 cases of the virus and most of them are self-isolating.

However, the BBC understands two of the patients were being treated in the Royal Victoria Hospital on Saturday and one had an extremely high temperature.

The Belfast Trust said, like all trusts, it was planning provision for any positive cases who needed hospital care in the coming weeks.

"These arrangements will involve identifying wards and units and prioritising care for the sickest patients," it said.

"The trust is looking at how best to do this across all acute sites including the Mater Hospital."

While the Mater will become the main site, it's understood that as coronavirus gets a firmer grip, the authorities will try to protect patients who are immuno-suppressed at the Royal Victoria Hospital's specialist isolation units, including cancer patients based at the Belfast City Hospital.

It is thought the other four health trusts are working on so called "surge plans".

This is challenging considering limited resources and staff.

Coping with coronavirus, and even beating, it will depend on good planning.

It appears the individual trusts are doing their own thing - at some stage the public will need to see evidence of an overarching plan for all of Northern Ireland.

As the number of cases rise, care will be prioritised and non-emergency surgery will be cancelled.

Looking ahead, the biggest problems for all health systems will be too few hospital beds, and not enough masks and personal protection equipment.

However, the Belfast Trust said it had accessed more equipment to boost existing stocks.

On Saturday and Sunday, eight more cases of coronavirus were confirmed, bringing the total number of cases to 12.

Health officials said further positive tests had been expected and the region remained in the containment phase.

This involves catching cases early and tracing all close contacts to halt the spread of the disease for as long as possible.

Four out of five people who contract coronavirus will only experience mild symptoms, a World Health Organization examination of data from 56,000 patients found.

Older people, and people with pre-existing medical conditions (such as asthma, diabetes, heart disease), are more likely to become severely ill.

For information and advice, the Public Health Agency has a dedicated website.